Stanley Crick

The Australian Photo-Play Company was established in June 1911 under the management of Stanley Crick. The company had arisen out of the Crick and Finlay partnership, which had produced four films by John Gavin earlier in the year. Crick's new company was an ambitious undertaking, with capital of £20,000, offices in Sydney and Melbourne, and two studios planned for construction in Sydney. By November 1911 Crick claimed to be employing about forty staff, with a camera department in the charge of Herbert Finlay, a laboratory managed by A. O. Segerberg, and an acting troupe under the direction of Alfred Rolfe. The staff was young (only one of the principal members was over 30 and their work often displayed an ingenuity that set them far ahead of their local contemporaries, many of whom still regarded film as an adjunct to stage productions.
The company did not survive long, but it was prolific, making a score of films in less than a year. Crick had hoped for government support in the form of a protective tariff to limit the number of imported films, but as many later film-makers found, governments were reluctant to act. Because of the inadequacy of theatre outlets, especially after the merging of the main competition forces in the combine of Australasian Films and Union Theatres, the company never became financially stable. In March 1912 the marketing of the films was assigned to Gaumont, but with no evident improvement, and production ground to a halt in mid-1912. Pike & Cooper: 21.

Sin Of A Woman, The (Alfred Rolfe, 1912) Australian Photo-Play Company

Crime And The Criminal, The (Alfred Rolfe, 1912) Australian Photo-Play Company

Coo-ee And The Echo (Alfred Rolfe, 1912) Australian Photo-Play Company, dp A. O. Segerberg; happy ending is only reached when a 'faithful' Aboriginal boy (played by Charles Woods in blackface) arrives in time to rescue the hero